Enchanted in Time (Enchanted After Thirty #1)

Chapter 6

6

T he coachman steered the horses out of the bustling city and onto a smaller side street. Hannah immediately noticed they had left the big city and main road behind. The loud honking and reckless passing maneuvers that had followed them up to now had finally ceased. How impatient people were these days! And people hadn’t gone as quicky before, either.

A short while later, they were galloping down the small road leading directly to the forested area that was the site of the Lichtenberg Castle ruin. It was an idyllic forest. The birds were singing, and the light of the summer evening sun was casting a golden glow on the leaves and needles of the trees and shrubs that rose up on either side.

Hannah was growing more and more nervous with every passing minute. She kept looking out the carriage window at the forest. She was trying to make out the way they were going, but the window was too small. She couldn’t see ahead. When the path turned, she looked back again, and on catching a glimpse of the bumpy road, she froze.

A bluish mist was drifting across the path. The nebulous veil settled over the road and extended throughout the forest between the trees and shrubs. Never before had she seen such a thing! Did it mark a boundary? What did it mean? She blinked a number of times.

She was seized by a feeling of vertigo, and her stomach rumbled and turned as it had at the spring festival three months before when she’d gotten off the Breakdance with Marco. She needed to close her eyes for a moment. The nausea subsided at last, and she looked out the window of the coach once more. But when she looked back at the path again, she no longer saw the mist.

Goosebumps ran up and down her arms. She was glad that the kindly coachman was there. It gave her a little assurance. Once again, she looked back but saw nothing strange. She must have only imagined it. She stroked the fabric of her gown, cautiously felt her hair, and sighed. Again, she looked out the window, but all she could see were dense trees and shrubs—nothing but brown and green.

As she leaned back in the seat, her arms and legs felt lighter. She took a deep breath and relished the silence. No one was tugging at her arm. No one was asking for something to eat or drink. No one was whining because there was something they couldn’t find or someone had taken their toy. When had she last enjoyed peace and quiet like this? Had she had even a moment’s rest since becoming a single mother? Whatever this evening might bring, these moments were worth it all.

How much farther to Lichtenberg Castle? In a few minutes, they would round the bend and see the old ruin before them. She had been there a couple of times with her kids—the last time had been for a short hike the previous autumn. She wondered how they would manage to hold a ball there.

Maybe they had cut back the vines, cleared the debris, and stretched some kind of tarp over the sections of wall that remained. With decorations and the right lighting, it would certainly have been possible to transform the place into a magical venue despite its decrepit state. Hannah had experience with that sort of thing. How many a ramshackle meeting house or rowing club had she already transformed into a charming location for a wedding?

And what was this invitation—from a king she had never heard of or read about before—all about? Just a few more minutes of patience, and she was about to find out. Excited, she kept looking out the window. Soon the valley and ruin would appear. Soon. She could already see the bend in the road. After that, the road would lead along the valley and past the castle to the old bridge, and then, at last, the ruin would come into view. Two more seconds... one...

She moved up close to the window and was clutching its delicate frame when what she saw next took her breath away.

There on the hill in the valley was not the overgrown ruin she knew—no. There on the hill stood a castle unlike any she had ever seen before. The light-colored, nearly white stone it was built out of was shining brighter than the summer evening sun, illuminating the valley and trees all around. This tall, stately building had nothing in common with the ruin she had visited with her children a few months before. Countless turrets and oriels sprouted from the large main building, which had an enormous castle portal for an entrance. The walls and archway were adorned with numerous figures, which from a distance appeared to be angels and women. Between them were ornamental reliefs, though Hannah could not decipher them from afar. So many coaches and horses were bustling about in the spacious courtyard before this impressive building that Hannah could feel her knees start to tremble.

She turned her gaze once more toward the majestic building. What a sight it was! How could the ruin have been restored in such a short period of time? Without anyone noticing a thing? Not one report in the local press, no neighbors whispering—nothing. All the brides who came to Ines at the flower shop would surely have heard long ago about an estate as magnificent as this appearing in the neighborhood.

This castle could not have been built in a short amount of time. The work had certainly taken years. How was it that no one had reported on it, that no one had seen the cranes or deliveries of the building materials? That no hikers had heard the loud construction noises and complained? And Hannah herself and her children had noticed nothing?

Stunned, she shook her head as the carriage rumbled along and up to the castle courtyard. The horses came to a stop, and the coachman climbed down from the box to open the door.

In a moment, she would enter this castle to attend a royal ball—or whatever event it actually was. Smiling and with a pounding heart, she took the coachman’s proffered hand and headed toward the stately castle portal.